Alan’s Story

In the summer of 2017, Alan found his marriage, career, health, self-esteem, and life in general was in shambles. After 20 plus years of abusing drugs and alcohol in some form, Alan was a full blown heroin addict. He had a beautiful wife, three amazing kids, a nice home, and in spite of his wonderful circumstances, he was on the verge of death. As fate would have it, his wife Mary heard Chris Herren speak at the school where she works, and she reached out for help.

Throughout his adult life, Alan found himself overdosing, crashing cars, he was arrested three times in a matter of a couple months, and had almost resigned to the fact that his life was coming to an end. His journey to a new life began the day when he decided to truly accept help from Herren Project.

Though Alan was unsure of what recovery entailed, he decided enough was enough; he didn’t want his kids growing up without a father or to leave his wife a widow. Within just a few hours of reaching out, Herren Project was working to get him admitted into a medical detox facility. Alan stayed in treatment for two months with help from Herren Project’s recovery scholarship.

A year and a half later, Alan believes now more than ever that those two months changed the course of his life. He heard while he was in treatment that if he put anything in front of his recovery, he should be prepared to lose it. He held onto that. It wasn’t easy. But he never used. No matter what.

Today, Alan remains involved in the recovery community by volunteering for church, staying active as a Herren Project alumni, and developing a new career as a recovery coach.

If you’d like to support Herren Project’s efforts to help people like Alan, please donate here.

Your contribution matters and we thank you in advance for your generosity and your desire to help people heal.